Social Recruiting: How to Target the Right Candidates

By Cheryl Morgan

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Social recruiting is here to stay. It's transitioned from a cool, niche idea for a few tech-savvy human resources managers to a necessary way of connecting with recruits for all who work in human resources. What matters, though, is targeting the right candidates so that you can most effectively hire a strong workforce that will be with the company for some time to come.

Research, Then Do More Research

It's essential that you do a great deal of research on your target audience before you can attempt to reach them successfully. After you identify which type of candidates that you want to attract for a specific department or position, you need to learn a lot of information about who those people are and what they need.

Identify the Right Social Media Networks

Perhaps the most important part of your preparation is finding out which social networks the right candidates for your positions may use. Before you rush to sign up for popular social network websites like Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, Instagram, Pinterest, or Ello, first identify where your target audiences are likely to be. Start your social recruiting journey at those sites.

Consider how your ideal candidate may respond to each post you make.

Follow Through

Once your research is done, you want to directly address the specific sort of candidates that you want. Add value to their lives in some significant way in order to keep them interested. For example by sharing relevant news or links to events/webinars that might interest them. Don't just post self-serving content about your organisation or a stream of job vacancies that you want to fill. It's important that you establish a long-term relationship with your audience so that you attract both people who are currently looking for a new role and ones who are not ready to transition yet. That means communicating with your followers frequently. Reply to those who ask you questions, and always be polite in your responses.

Voice of Your Company

Send positive messages that the right candidates will want to hear. Use a voice that is inclusive and sensitive to all, but it should be focused and honed for those who you most want to attract as candidates. It should also be authentic to your organisation as this will help to attract people that are more likely to fit. This is important for all posts. If you establish an easily identified voice for your business, people will think more favourably of it, and you may attract candidates who pass along your posts to their contemporaries who may also be a right fit for your company somewhere down the line.

Craft Strong Job Descriptions

When you are ready to find new hires for specific job positions, it's important to write your job ad to maximise its appeal to the right candidates. Make sure the content is arranged in a visually appealing way, and keep things focused on why a candidate would want to apply for the role and work for your organisation. When you are linking to the job ad on social media, use succinct messages that intrigue readers to increase click throughs and sharing.

Conclusion

Finally, when you're social recruiting, take steps each day to connect with the right candidates. It will ultimately save you time and money as well as prevent frustration. Zeroing in on a target group of candidates will help streamline the recruiting process in a way that few other things can. Check out our monthly social recruiting plans for more information on how to get started today.